Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Warp and Weft


You are the light of the world. 
A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. 
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 
Matthew 5:14-15

I want my rose-colored, Pollyanna glasses to take away the pain.  I want to turn up the volume of praise music so I won't hear the heartache, or change the channel to entertain, or read a book and escape.   I want to move away from the crime, and the crowded, and the prejudice and live in an old-town community of barn-raising and pot-lucks and quilting bees.  But I can't seem to get away from this world.

Perhaps because this world is in me.  It is part of me.  It helps define me just as much as I define it.  Sometimes the differences overwhelm the similarities.  Sometimes the hurt outweighs the hope, and love is lost in a labyrinth of discontent.  Sometimes I feel like I'm at the bottom of a half-empty glass and can't find my way to half-full.  Sometimes we're on that forever treadmill, running and running away and discovering we haven't moved at all.

I can't run away from who I am, and neither can you.

Maybe it's not a question of running from, but a determination to run toward.

“Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? 
May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? 
Without all doubt, we may. 
Herein all the children of God may unite, 
notwithstanding these smaller differences.” 
― John Wesley

They say there needs to be a separation of church and state, and so prayer and mention of God has been taken out of our schools.  

They say there needs to be a separation of church and state, and so prayer and mention of God has been taken out of our military and our law enforcement.

They say there needs to be a separation of church and state, and so prayer and mention of God has been taken away from our legislators and our court systems.

But we are children of God; we believe in Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life and following him has changed us.  You, who are starting school, who have to follow rules and regulations about what to say and when to say it - it's ok.  You will speak volumes through your actions, because Christ is in you.  Remember him.  

You who patrol the every-day streets, who safeguard our freedoms at home and on foreign soil, you who are trained in battle and war-weary, you who work within a roiling soup of disrespect and discontent, who dedicate yourselves to serve and protect, you who have to make life-and-death decisions in split-second time on snapshots of information - You, too, are a child of God.  Christ is in you.  Remember him.  Pray.  Nothing can separate you from the love of God, and his love will guide you.  You will speak volumes through your actions.

You who sit in judgment - officially and unofficially.  You who write laws and guidelines and handbooks and directions.  You are a child of God.  He is with you when you ask.  You don't need to pray out loud.  You don't need to call attention to yourself.  You may carefully choose your words, but you have the gift of words and He will guide you. 

You are like a tapestry, intersecting threads across the loom of your life.  The warp threads, the foundation of the weaving, is Jesus.  He stabilizes you; He strengthens you; He is your constant.  The weft threads, woven in and around, the changing colors, the design - those are you.  They are your experiences, your beliefs, your knowledge, your emotions; they are the different sides of you.  Together, warp and weft,  you are strong and beautiful - a work of art.  A child of God.  

The warp cannot be separated from the tapestry.  You cannot be separated from your Savior.  And this world needs you to be strong and beautiful.  Different and unique.  A work of art.  A child of God.

Jesus said to love your enemies.  He said the world would not be fair.  He said treat others as you would like to be treated.  He said love God and love your neighbor.

This is our warp.  This is our foundation.  This is what we should be running toward.

Heavenly Father, 
In these days of Fergusons, and shooters at Army posts, and mountaintops in foreign places, 
in these days of separation of church and state, of violence and evil - 
help us to remember that we cannot be separated from you. 
Help us to embrace you in the stillness of listening and to find you in the heat of arguing.   
Help us, even in the hard stuff, the want-to-run-away-from stuff.  
Help us to glorify you through our words and our actions. 
Help us to do what Jesus taught us to do.

Heavenly Father, come.





6 comments:

  1. Hushed by your wisdom here. Thank you. I just returned from a trip to Ferguson, and was profoundly moved. Still processing it all....

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    1. Oh Jennifer - I was inspired by your action. I've been praying for your trip; and I am reading that processing between the lines. Don't rush yourself - all those things you write about will help you reach people who need to hear that processing: asking the tough questions, not comparing, seeing Yahweh, loving on the people close to you and loving for strangers... Yours is a needed voice - thank you for your encouragement to me, but thank you more for running toward... Peace.

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  2. I don't know if I can ever fully grasp what is going on in America and abroad.
    This is thing I believe, Jesus return is imminent.

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    1. I can't grasp it. My husband texted me from post (we are currently at Ft Lee) the other day about a shooter. We were at Ft Hood and he was on post during that tragedy as well. All I could think of was - again? Knowing he was safe was a relief, but... again? We are walking a very dark Valley in this world, aren't we? Thank God for God!

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  3. Such beautiful wisdom here, Janet. There is so much evil and sadness in this world but I know there is such good too. Holding on to the good and remembering that we need to keep shinning His in the darkness. So many reasons to pray big prayers. Blessings. xoxo

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    1. Praying big prayers and remembering He will never leave us. That's the wisdom - He will never leave us. He is good. You know where Paul said to pray constantly? This is my constant prayer sometimes... Lord, I believe, help me with my unbelief. I know it has to start with how I define the world before I will ever see or help to change it. That's what Jesus does to us - he changes us so we can see His world. Yup, these are big prayers! I am so glad you stopped by. Hugs.

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I know we probably haven't met in person, but I believe that the sharing of our ideas and thoughts, sometimes our hearts and souls, makes us more than strangers. I would like to say friends. Thank you for taking the time to contribute to my little space - I appreciate you.